I recently took a trip to Memphis. I flew... and had to go through the TSA security. I went to the their website and read about what I could and could not take through security.
I even read their FAQs: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/customer/editorial_1029.shtm#5
They made it very clear that they were a govermental agency; paid for by government money (i.e.... my taxes).
So I am standing in the TSA line at the airport and I noticed there are two TSA lines.... one for 1st class and one for the rest of us. And to my amazement I see that our TSA screens the 1st class passengers first.
In most airports, the airline, not the TSA controls sets preferences for the TSA as to who gets screened first. So even though it's our tax dollars that pays the TSA bills. They are being dictated to by the airline's preferences for their customers.... (first class, preferred, elite, etc get screen first?......)
This rubs me the wrong way. It just does not seem right that government employees are being controlled by the airlines. It's bad enough that we have to deal with the loss of privacy as it is.
The more I think about it the more this stinks like something you would see in a 3rd world country. Where bribes are the normal part of business. It's un-American. Is our TSA being run (or bribed) by a 3rd world government (the airlines) in order to screen their 1st class or elite customers first?
Are the 1st class customers bribing the TSA via the airlines to get screened first?So, I have sent an email off to the TSA and found out that the access, i.e... the line to go through TSA is actually owned by the airline.
What do you think? Is our TSA being run by the airlines like bribes in a 3rd world country?
